


no need to rush

by hyunjoom



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cutesy, M/M, Minor Injuries, Sports, Sweetheart Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups, Track and Field AU, author has little to no knowledge about sports, go team!, minor blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28082688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunjoom/pseuds/hyunjoom
Summary: Everyone has off days, even Joshua, no matter the high expectations he places on himself.Just have fun. Relax. Watch Seungcheol sling a discus across the grassy lawn and smile proudly like the adorable high school movie protagonist he is. Joshua thinks he can manage that.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43
Collections: Match Point: The SEVENTEEN Sports Fic Fest





	no need to rush

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SVTSportsFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SVTSportsFest) collection. 



> me? writing a sports fic even tho i dont know a thing abt sports? YEAH
> 
> initially i wanted to do college track but then i realized idk how it works bc i never did it BUT i did middle school track which is probably pretty close to high school track right..?
> 
> title comes from my my !!

Joshua yawns from his seat in the grass as the head coach drawls on with his end-of-practice dismissal speech. He spreads his legs out wide to fold himself down into a stretch, but his shin knocks into Jeonghan’s knee, who has his legs pulled into a butterfly stretch. “Move,” Joshua mouths at him when Jeonghan meets his eyes with a glare. 

“I was here first,” Jeonghan whispers back, picking up Joshua’s leg and moving it over a few inches. Joshua slides it back where it was, knocking their legs together again. “Bitch.”

A sharp shush comes from in front of them and they look up in tandem to see their sprints coach looking at them sharply before pointing his thumb in the direction of the head coach, who’s still droning on about their upcoming scrimmage on Thursday. Jeonghan rolls his eyes at Joshua for good measure before tuning in up front, not doing a very good job of looking interested. 

Coach McDonnell’s voice is monotone and grating, and it easily filters in one of Joshua’s ears and straight out the other. He wishes he had something solid to lean back on so that he could half fall asleep while still pretending to pay attention. He looks consideringly at Jeonghan. No way that bitch would let Joshua lean on him. He scoots over a few inches to fully spread his legs into a shallow v and fold himself down in between them, forearms pressed into the grass. He feels peaceful, comfortable sinking down lower, though it may just be the exhaustion that consumes him after every practice. Coach’s speech is nothing more than another layer to the white noise around him; the wind whistling ever so slightly, rustling the leaves of the trees just off to the left of the track, a few of his teammates packing things up and swishing the fabric of their bags against their clothes. Joshua closes his eyes. He hears the buzzing of a bee nearby. _And remember, there’s no point keeping. We’ll play nice and easy. No need to hurt ourselves this early in the season._

Joshua has sunken far enough into full bodied relaxedness that he _almost_ doesn’t impatiently wish for McDonnell to just dismiss them already—he still does, twitching his fingers in lazy annoyance, but it’s the thought that counts. Jeonghan taps him in between his shoulders, and he looks back to see him passing over Joshua's gatorade which Jeonghan had so sweetly kept in his bag. Joshua sits up to accept it, gathering what he has around him to make his time in between being dismissed to the locker room and laying in bed after a long shower as quick and painless as possible. 

“No practice tomorrow,” Coach announces, and though they already knew they had a free day on the schedule, there are a few cheers from the mass of students on the lawn. “Rest up. Do a light work-out if you want, but take it easy.” Joshua really does not need to be told twice, and he imagines very few others on the team do. “Other than that, see you on Friday right after school.”

A few people whoop (they probably clap when the airplane lands too) and Joshua lays down on his back and stretches out like a sea star and whacks Jeonghan’s leg with the back of his hand. “Stop sitting so close to me if you don’t want me to bump into you while I stretch.”

“If I sit any closer to anyone else, they’ll get the impression that I actually like them,” Jeonghan replies, pulling himself up to stand over Joshua. “If I stretch your hammies, will you stretch mine?”

“Just fucking call them hamstrings,” Seungkwan groans from Joshua’s left. Joshua sees him come closer through his peripherals. “Hey, _Joshy_ ,” he starts, twiddling his fingers in faux shyness. Joshua fondly rolls his eyes and straightens his leg into the air for Jeonghan to push toward himself. “Can I get a ride home?”

“You know I’ll never say no, right?” Joshua asks, face scrunching up in almost pain as Jeonghan pushes him to the fine line between good sore and very bad injury sore. 

“Damn, seriously, Shua. How are you so flexible?” Jeonghan asks in bemusement as Joshua switches legs. He presses this one down slightly too far and just a little too fast, and Joshua yelps in pain and breathes out Jeonghan’s name next to a few expletives. 

“Stop torturing your teammates.” The gentle berating comes from a familiar voice somewhere above Joshua. He doesn’t come into Joshua’s line of sight, but he doesn’t need to for Joshua to recognize the voice as Seungcheol’s. 

Jeonghan scoffs. “I’m not torturing him. I’m simply trying to help our star hurdler be the best he can be.”

Joshua wiggles his leg from Jeonghan’s grip, digging the toe of his shoe into Jeonghan’s hip before letting his leg fall down on the grass with the rest of him. “Your turn, bitch,” he says.

Seungcheol laughs, finally coming closer to extend his hand in aid to pull Joshua up from the ground as Jeonghan drops down with a huff of breath. “Go easy on him,” he warns with an easy smile before saying goodbye and patting Seungkwan’s back on his way back to the building. Joshua absentmindedly grabs Jeonghan’s legs to stretch his “hammies” while he watches Seungcheol go. 

Seungcheol Choi is not necessarily the stereotypical athletic prince charming from all the movies, but he is well known in the world of track and field at their school (and apparently, his reputation even stretches outside of their district to some of the girls on other teams who swoon whenever he smiles after breaking his own discus record—okay, maybe he is the real life athletic prince charming). As the unofficial team captain who gives off a comfortable boy next door vibes, he just seems so much more approachable than the handsome jocks in all the movies. Joshua's also pretty certain Seungcheol isn’t as far into the himbo rankings as the likes of, say, the Teen Wolf lacrosse boys for example. Or his shot put counterpart, Mingyu. 

Jeonghan, sprawled out in the grass with a leg in the air, snorts at Joshua’s subtle distraction. “Didn’t know you were into beefy guys like Cheol,” he remarks, a smug smile pulled up on his cheeks. 

Seungkwan mutters something about Jeonghan’s need to always make things sound weirder than they are. “I’ll meet you in the locker room when you’re ready,” he says, taking his leave. A few other guys say goodnight to Joshua and Jeonghan as they pass. 

“I’m not _into_ anyone,” Joshua scoffs, helping Jeonghan up off the ground and gathering his things in his arms. They’ve loitered around long enough that the sun is just barely beginning to set and there’s a cool streak to the breeze. “He’s just. Really nice.”

If possible, Jeonghan’s smile turns even dingier. They make their way toward the locker rooms with their stuff bundled in their arms. “Sure. Really nice,” he needles in. “He does have that whole dopey smiled nice guy thing going for him.”

Joshua nudges Jeonghan with his shoulder, laughing when he stumbles a few steps. “Don’t be jealous just because someone has a better personality than you.”

“You’re horrible,” Jeonghan comments, but he sounds unscathed. Lucky for themselves, they both know how gritty they can be toward each other. “Did you hear it looks like Jun will break the high jump record this season?” 

“Really?” Joshua asks, grabbing the door of the athletics entrance and holding it for Jeonghan. It isn’t very surprising; Jun seems to have endless energy and improvement. “Not the long jump too?”

Jeonghan glares at Joshua as he passes through the door. “No, you bitch. That’s my record to break. He can have it next year after we’ve graduated.”

Joshua smiles amusedly, following Jeonghan into the locker room. A few of the showers are on, they can hear them from the entrance, as well as the telltale sound of Mingyu crooning along to whatever K-pop ballad he has stuck in his head tonight. He’s probably using his crusty bar of locker room soap as a microphone. Remarkably, no one on the team seems to ever be bothered by his shower singing. 

  
Joshua wakes up while his room is still lit grey from the not quite risen sun. He lays stationary for a moment before groaning softly and checking his phone for the time; 5:12 am. He needs to get back to sleep. He rolls over onto his other side and jams his face into his pillow, hoping he can convince himself to fall back to sleep quickly. 

The next time he wakes up is from the sound of his door opening. Which, what the fuck? His mom stopped walking in unannounced like four years ago. He’s lying flat on his stomach with his face still smushed against the pillow, but upon whoever’s entrance, he turns to look over his shoulder, squinting at the perpetrator. It’s worse than anything he could’ve imagined. 

“How’d you get in my house?” He asks. 

“Your mom let me in,” Jun answers, chivalrously closing the door behind him. “I texted you but you didn’t respond.”

Joshua groans and turns away. If he can’t see it, maybe it isn’t real. However, he hears Juns footsteps getting closer to his bed, and when he looks again (he can’t help it; it’s like those games he’d played as a kid where he wasn’t allowed to think of _it_ and then _it_ became subsequently all he could think about) Jun is lifting up the corner of the comforter and crawling into bed. Joshua sighs, but moves over to accommodate him. He’ll never win, it’s no use fighting Jun. He might as well give in. “What are you doing here?”

Jun hums contentedly, wriggling closer to Joshua. “I figured you’re probably upset about the scrimmage,” Jun murmurs, nuzzling his cheek against Joshua’s bed sheets while also carefully watching him. “Everyone has off days.”

Joshua takes Jun’s words with a grain of salt. Jun doesn’t have off days. Joshua _usually_ doesn’t. Plus, it’s hardly 8:30 and Jun is trying to canoodle him in his own bed. “What are you doing here?” He asks again. 

“Want to get breakfast? Me, Soonyoung, Jeonghan. Maybe Seokmin?”

“Jeonghan’s awake?” 

“Soonyoung’s breaking into his house as we speak.”

“You’re both insane.”

Jeonghan is, as anyone could’ve expected, noticeably irritated to have been woken up before eleven on a Saturday, and by Soonyoung of all people. He slumps into the booth of the sleazy diner they frequent, and Joshua lets Seokmin slide into it beside him to save his friend from any further harassment. Seokmin is typically high energy, but he’s soft and kind in the morning. Jeonghan, with his bed head and his scowl, needs a little soft and kind. 

“Joshy’s mom gave me a muffin when I stopped by,” Jun says around a mouthful of hash brown. “She’s so cool.”

There’s a smug scoff from where Jeonghan’s holding his chin up with his fist. “ _A_ muffin? Just one singular muffin?”

And then they launch into their biweekly “Joshua’s mom loves me more than she could ever love you” debate. Really, it isn’t even a close call. Jeonghan collects parents like Joshua used to collect Pokémon cards. Joshua’s mom likes everyone, especially her sweet sons carefully selected friends, but no one stands a chance next to Jeonghan. 

It leads them to an old story of sophomore year winter track season when Joshua’s mom bought Jeonghan a hot chocolate and he downed it all before the long jump and threw up everywhere after his jump. It had been momentarily humiliating for Jeonghan, and though Joshua felt bad laughing at him then, the story serves as a reminder now that everyone _does_ have off days. Even Jeonghan, long jump extraordinaire, and even Joshua, no matter the high expectations he places on himself. 

  
  
  


Joshua goes harder at practice on Monday. Despite everyone’s anxious warnings and kind sentiments, he goes harder. Stretches further, runs his warm up like he’s being timed. 

Scrimmages are pretty much obsolete, just a fun start to a season with low stakes. On top of that, Joshuas never been the overly competitive or obsessive, perfection oriented type. He’s just used to being good and it’s kind of hard to get used to the moments when he isn’t. 

Whenever he propels himself over the last hurdle, he doesn’t quite clear it, which happens. What’s different from this time and any other is that Joshua’s mind isn’t quite where it should be, so instead of just tipping the hurdle, maybe stumbling for a few steps, but ultimately recovering quickly, Joshua just topples to the ground knees first and even skids and tumbles a bit. Joshua manually rolls over once more to lay flat on his back in defeat. He hears nothing but a slight ringing and the air blowing past his ears. The clouds pass by across the crystal blue sky. This would be a good place for a nap, Joshua thinks, he could use a nap. 

And then he hears an exaggerated “ _Ew_ ,” as someone slides a hand under his back to help him into a sitting position. It’s Soonyoung grimacing and pointedly not looking at Joshua’s lower half. “Dude, are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

Joshua shakes his head no. “I don’t think so?”

“We called your name like five times,” Soonyoung tells him. 

Joshua looks away from Soonyoung’s concern and disgust to collect his bearings. It’s then that he looks down at the rest of his body to see the slow ooze of blood pooling down and around his right knee. If he looks hard enough, he sees the split skin and the details of track burn, so he doesn’t look too hard. “Oh, what the fuck.”

The sound of footsteps and the feeling of a brought on breeze hits before the sight of an additional person does. “Are you okay?” 

Joshua has to tear his eyes away from the can’t look away car wreck that is his own knee to look back over his shoulder at the voice. It’s Seungcheol, charming smile nowhere to be seen. Instead, his thick eyebrows are laced in worry. He only hums in response. 

“Here,” Seungcheol says. Joshua doesn’t know what it means. All he knows is that Soonyoung helps him up from one side while Seungcheol helps from the other, and then Soonyoung is gone, Joshua’s coach is smiling at him grimly, and Seungcheol has a warm arm wrapped around his waist. “I got you.” 

“Pretty nasty fall, huh?” Seungcheol asks, keeping an arm around Joshua while he opens the door for them. “Does it hurt bad?”

Joshua shrugs. “Not horrible. Just like a really bad rug burn.”

“Still, doesn’t look fun at all,” Seungcheol reasons. It’s not, and Seungcheol can tell if the limp in Joshua’s gait is anything to go off of. He has to hold onto Joshua the entire way to the athletic trainer’s office just to keep them moving steadily.

When they reach her office, Seungcheol helps Joshua onto the worn cot and they explain what happened as the nurse inspects the damage. Seungcheol stands in the corner, still wearing that endearing look of concern. 

“You can go back to practice, or if Joshua needs a friend, feel free to stay with him.”

Seungcheol looks to Joshua, eyebrows drawn up. He looks kind of hopeful. He looks cute. Joshua nods. “Please stay,” he says. “I need someone to escort me back to practice.”

“Oh no, buddy,” the trainer butts in. “Considering the impact you apparently hit the ground with, you’re gonna need at least a day off so you don’t overdo it. Not to mention just to minimize discomfort from this split.” 

Joshua swallows down his nausea and hesitance to peer back down at his legs. His knee still looks busted to hell, but not as scary as before. The nurse must’ve cleaned him up while he was distracting himself with the clock on the wall, the medicine cabinet, Seungcheol’s reassuring smile. He notices friction burn further down his legs, bright red and angry with blood barely bubbling up past the surface of his skin. 

“I guess you can go back to practice, then,” Joshua tells Seuncheol, defeated. 

Seungcheol checks his phone. “It’s 5:45 anyway. I’ll stay. I can help you back in time for Coach’s announcements.”

Joshua feels himself smile. “Thanks, Seungcheol. Thanks for being here.”

He is escorted back to the field for announcements like Seungcheol had told him, and if Joshua’s disappointment wasn’t evident before, it is after Coach McDonnell pulls him aside after to tell him he doesn’t want him participating in tomorrow’s meet. Joshua had expected that restriction from the trainer, because she tends to be overprotective of the young athletes, but to hear it from his coach presents a new level of major letdown. 

“Look, Josh, the trainer said you’d want to get right back into things, and I understand, I do, but she also said you did quite the number on your knee, and not to mention you’re not quite clear of a concussion yet. You won’t get anymore hurt, not on my watch.”

And Joshua gets it. It’s dangerous, even a liability, really, but there’s no justification that can stop the defeated slump of his shoulders as he makes his way over to gather his things. 

Seungcheol is there waiting for him, apparently having shooed Jeonghan off already as he’s already making his way inside, roughhousing with Soonyoung as they go. “Look,” Seungcheol starts, handing Joshua his bag. Joshua ignores the flutter in his stomach. “I know you’re disappointed. I would be too. But do you know how many more meets we have this season? You have so many more chances to do your best and beat your records.” 

Joshua knows he’s right. He _knows_ , but his heart is still pretty sunken at the idea of sitting out. 

“You’ll still come, right?” Seungcheol asks, knocking Joshua out of his self pity induced haze. He looks up at Seungcheol, who looks back at him with hopeful curiosity. Joshua nods. “Good. You can come, have fun, relax, eat bad high school stadium food. Maybe you can cheer me on.” He quickly adds, looking shy, “and your friends too.”

Have fun. Relax. Watch Seungcheol sling a discus across the grassy lawn and smile proudly like the adorable high school movie protagonist he is. Joshua thinks he can manage that. 

As most things go, sitting out of the first real meet of Joshua’s senior year is not as bad as he’d imagined it. 

Jeonghan’s mom buys him a hot chocolate and he downs it in front of Jeonghan right before his long jump just to spite him. He sits in the bleachers goofing off with the rest of the team for most of the meet, aside from going down to help Jeonghan stretch like he always does. 

Jun beats Jeonghan in the long jump. Jeonghan takes it fairly well. “You have so many more chances this year,” Joshua reminds him as they’re starting to call runners for the 100 meter hurdles. He starts to get up to take off his track jacket, but he looks down at the shitty cheese fries in his hands and remembers he isn’t here to race today. Outside the track, the discus throwers are getting ready to compete. “Do you want the rest of these?” Joshua asks Jeonghan, who grimaces and says no. Joshua shoves them onto his lap anyway. 

Joshua makes his way to the discus cage in a daze. He’s never been able to watch throwing events, always caught up with his own. The world of throwing and the world of hurdling are very different, but their times always overlap. Joshua sees Mingyu give Seungcheol a sturdy pat on the back, and right before he takes his turn, Seungcheol catches Joshua’s gaze. He gives Joshua a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, as if he’s the one who needs encouraging right now. 

Joshua really can’t even pretend to understand what makes a good discus throw _good,_ but if Seungcheol’s excited clap is anything to go off of, Joshua would say his throw was pretty fucking good. Joshua finds himself cheering along with the other throwers around from their team. 

And then Seungcheol turns, and he smiles that proud high school protagonist smile. Joshua has the whole season to do his best. Today feels like a good day to relax. 

**Author's Note:**

> dear prompter if u read this i hope its satsfying and also how did u literally predict an entire joshua era with the hurdling thing LIKEE he literally was a hurdler thats crazy


End file.
